The Nortwest Division & Western Conference

[DaVoiceMaster]

The NW Division and Western Conference is going to be very interesting next season.

Denver is good and Utah got better. OKC is what they are and Minny continues to suck. Not quite sure just yet how Portland will do without Nurkic. They should still compete with those teams, but I just dont know how good they will be at this point.

A lot of teams in the west got better, as well. Where will the Lakers, Kings, Mavs, Pelicans, and Suns fit in? We always talk about how tough the west is, but its unimaginable that the west will actually be tougher than ever before. Wow!

I know it's a little early to rank the teams, and it could change numerous times over the week, but give it a try. Don't do it the Colin Herd way like he did today and have 3 teams in the top 10, all with Kawai Leonard on the roster. That was just plain stupid.

[Shem]

Bringing in Whiteside to fill in for Nurk while he rehabs is a good start. Dumping Turner for Bazemore helps too.

[Tim Lehrbach]

Everybody but Memphis figures to be competitive. The Blazers will need to jell quickly and have good luck with injuries to make the playoffs, let alone get HCA again.

To answer your question, albeit not precisely, I think the Nuggets, Jazz, Lakers, and Rockets should be expected to finish ahead of Portland. If the Clippers get Kawhi throw them up there too. I'd put the Blazers in a group with the Warriors and Thunder. Then there's the Spurs and Kawhi-less Clippers. Even behind that, I expect much better seasons from the Kings, Mavericks, and even the Suns and Pelicans. Hard to believe in the Wolves, but the upside is still there for others to step up around Towns and (hopefully healthy) Covington.

[DusterBuster]

Everybody but Memphis figures to be competitive. The Blazers will need to jell quickly and have good luck with injuries to make the playoffs, let alone get HCA again.

Don't forget Phoenix!

[DusterBuster]

To answer your question, albeit not precisely, I think the Nuggets, Jazz, Lakers, and Rockets should be expected to finish ahead of Portland. If the Clippers get Kawhi throw them up there too. I'd put the Blazers in a group with the Warriors and Thunder. Then there's the Spurs and Kawhi-less Clippers. Even behind that, I expect much better seasons from the Kings, Mavericks, and even the Suns and Pelicans. Hard to believe in the Wolves, but the upside is still there for others to step up around Towns and (hopefully healthy) Covington.

I only expect the Lakers to probably finish ahead of Portland. I think it's a total crapshoot of who finishes ahead of whom between Denver, Portland, Utah and Houston. I think the Blazers (assuming health holds up) are clearly ahead of the Thunder, Spurs and Clips. The Thunder had PG3 at an MVP peak level and still couldn't finish ahead of Portland last season. Warriors are a bit of a wildcard, can't pin them down.

So yeah, I think you got 5 teams totally locked into the playoff spots barring major injuries; Lakers, Blazers, Nuggets, Rockets, and Jazz (in no particular order). From 5-12 it's going to be a flustercuck of between Thunder, Spurs, Clips, Kings, Mavs, Wolves and Pels.

[Tim Lehrbach]

Everybody but Memphis figures to be competitive. The Blazers will need to jell quickly and have good luck with injuries to make the playoffs, let alone get HCA again.

Don't forget Phoenix!

Ha, you're probably right and I'm overly optimistic, but even with their head-scratching draft day and years of ineptitude, I think they could be a lot better with Ayton in his second year and finally a distributor and defender in their backcourt. I don't expect them to contend for the playoffs but I do expect real improvement.

[DusterBuster]

Everybody but Memphis figures to be competitive. The Blazers will need to jell quickly and have good luck with injuries to make the playoffs, let alone get HCA again.

Don't forget Phoenix!

Ha, you're probably right and I'm overly optimistic, but even with their head-scratching draft day and years of ineptitude, I think they could be a lot better with Ayton in his second year and finally a distributor and defender in their backcourt. I don't expect them to contend for the playoffs but I do expect real improvement.

I just have zero faith in them to get it together. I'm also not a Booker fan, I don't think he's a guy you can successfully build around - made even more difficult by inept ownership.

[Norm2953]

Assuming Kwahi eventually signs with the Lakers, that's a team that is a work in progress for
they have very high expectations of Alex Caruso who the one holdover guard on last years
team. Going to be an interesting team to be sure for its unclear whether Kwahi would defer
to Lebron and I've been wondering if AD will end up in a similar role to Draymond Green.

Portland's made a lot of changes as have a lot of teams in the west. If I had to guess, Denver
and Utah should get off to fast starts as should OKC. It's going to take some time for the
teams that have made a lot of changes to jell for I expect there will be nights Portland
will miss the quiet professional that is the chief.

[PDX MM]

OKC has two MVP level players so unless they are unlucky with injuries I would say they are a lock for a playoff spot. Denver at worse stays even however I doubt that. The Jazz will be better and one of these years they won't get off to a bad start. Then there is us so the NW division has half of the west's playoff teams again so that will be fun.

Hard to see the Lakers miss out again even if they don't sign Leonard so the question is who do they replace from last seasons playoff teams. Then there are teams like Dallas and the Kings who I would think continue to improve but will it be enough to break the top 8? I say no atm but we will see. If the Clips fail to sign Leonard I can see them drop out and the Spurs are trending downward so will this be the year they drop out? My playoff prediction on the 2nd of July in no particular order:

Portland
Denver
OKC
Utah
LAL
GS
Houston
Spurs